Quark
Young Boy Kuōku |gender= Male |age= 10 (born c. 2064) |hair= Blond |eye= Light brown |relative=Junpei Tenmyouji |occupation= Student Garbage collector |status= Alive |appearances=''Virtue's Last Reward'' Zero Time Dilemma (mentioned as X-Pass) |voice= Rie Kugimiya (Japanese) Erin Fitzgerald (English) |other=N/A}} Quark is a sweet and cheerful boy forced to play the Nonary Game: Ambidex Edition in Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward. His childlike curiosity and boundless energy hides an exceptionally clever and analytical mind. He has a warm relationship with Tenmyouji. Appearance Quark is a blond-haired boy with brown eyes, a green jacket, green shorts, white socks, brown shoes and a brown helmet. Like the other players, he wears a bracelet on his left wrist. Personality Quark is very cheerful and optimistic about the situation he is placed in. He tends to stay calm, cool, and collected. He is honest and tends to tell the truth, unless his grandfather's life is on the line. He sometimes cracks jokes and deeply cares about the welfare of the other players. Quark is also very polite. He also addresses all of the players by "Mr." and "Ms.", showing that he respects the other players. Tenmyouji also taught Quark to be respectful of other humans. The only exception to this is when Dio insults him or when he is infected with a certain suicide virus -- then Quark calls Dio and the other players "bastards". Background Quark was born approximately the year 2064 and was raised by Tenmyouji on a post-apocalyptic Earth in the 2060s, after he found him as an abandoned orphaned crying baby on a rainy night and took him home. Because of how tiny Quark was as a baby boy, Tenmyouji named him "Quark", based on the elementary particle. At some point in time, Quark learned to read and write from a woman who used to be a teacher that lived in their neighborhood. Also around this time, he learns about Akane Kurashiki, who Tenmyouji was in love with during his childhood and how he has searched for her all his life. When he turned six, he started helping Tenmyouji with his work. He had no knowledge of his adoption until he was seven, when he began to suspect that Tenmyouji might abandon him once he was able to live on his own. One day, Tenmyouji got Quark a root beer float, a drink made by putting a scoop of vanilla ice cream in some root beer. Root beer was an extremely rare drink and a luxury in the post-apocalyptic world, and costed a fortune. Quark has taken to saying "Root beer floats my boat," which warms Tenmyouji's heart. Eventually, Quark got into a fight with Tenmyouji about how the parts Quark found were completely useless. Quark became angry, shouted, "I don't CARE!" and ran off, hiding in an abandoned building. When Quark decided he should come back and apologize, it started raining. Quark wondered if Tenmyouji adopted him out of love, or only for the sake of working for money. The rain didn't stop, so he decided to go home even if it continued raining. On his way back, he found Tenmyouji and realized he had spent the whole night outside looking for him. Quark was very happy to see him, but quickly ran to the doctor for help since Tenmyouji obtained a near-fatal fever and almost died. After Tenmyouji got better, he explained to Quark that he was an old man, and that meant he was probably going to die sooner rather than later. Tenmyouji was strict with Quark because he wanted to make sure he would be able to take care of himself when he eventually dies and said that he never regretted adopting him. Quark wanted to be with him forever, even if Tenmyouji said otherwise. After this ordeal, the two became even closer and he promised to look after Quark for the rest of his life. Some time before the Nonary Game: Ambidex Edition starts, Sigma Klim summons Quark and Tenmyouji to the Moon. Quark agreed to go to the Moon with Tenmyouji, who wanted to see Akane, which was when they became participants of the AB Game. The driver of the spaceship knocked them out with Soporil and placed Quark in an AB Room with Akane Kurashiki. Virtue's Last Reward Quark wakes up in the AB Room with Dio at the beginning of the Nonary Game. He discovers that he is a blue pair with Dio. They escape quickly and meet up with Alice, Luna, and Tenmyouji. Soon, Sigma and Phi meet up with them as well. Quark tells Sigma that he, along with Sigma and Phi was placed with another player in his elevator. He states the Chromatic Doors are locked and there seems to be no key. After Sigma checks the supposedly empty elevator, K jumps out from the hatch carrying Clover. Soon after she wakes up, Zero III appears to explain the rules of the Nonary Game: Ambidex Edition. He also refers to Quark as Quirk, to make fun of him like the other players. Soon, the Chromatic Doors open and Luna asks Sigma to pick a door. Quark END On Quark's route, he goes to the Lounge with Alice and Dio. Soon after leaving there, Akane Kurashiki is found dead in one of the AB Rooms and Tenmyouji orders Luna to take him away from the scene. During the AB Game, Dio betrays Alice, and accuses Quark of making the decision. Quark says Dio pressed the button and that he didn't have a chance to do anything, but Alice is not convinced. For the second round of the AB Game, Quark is a magenta solo. However, it is not long before Quark passes out from Radical-6 in the infirmary and upon waking up, tries to kill himself with a scalpel. He pleads the group to let him do it, claiming he's a soul trapped in his physical body that needs escape through death. Luna is able to sedate him and Clover grabs the scalpel. When the players go through the Chromatic Doors, Quark is carried through the blue door by Phi and Luna. While he is unconscious, Dio steals the medicine Axelavir which could cure Quark from the laboratory and attempts to kill Sigma using the penalty. Sigma is able to cut his cybernetic arm off to save himself, but Dio and K escape. Luna then gives the medicine to Quark, curing him. He thanks Sigma for risking his life to save him. Quark suggests that Akane might be Zero, saying that she got Radical-6 and killed herself. He also suggests that someone moved her body into the AB Room after she was killed somewhere else. Phi searches Akane's body and finds a card, which says "Kurashiki" on the front, and "Pass=Jumpydoll" on the back. However, before they can come to any conclusions, Alice succumbs to Radical-6 and kills herself. Tenmyouji END Tenmyouji heads with Sigma and Phi to the Infirmary. They find the Radical-6 article, but before they can show it to anyone, Sigma finds Akane dead. Tenmyouji recognizes her and becomes very depressed because of this. Tenmyouji betrays Sigma and Phi in the first round of the AB Game, bringing his BP to 6. Tenmyouji searches the Infirmary for a way with Quark, when Sigma enters, he refuses to answer questions about who he is or his relationship with Quark, and he berates Sigma and the other players for not trying to figure out who killed the old woman, he thinks the person in Zero Sr. and brushes off Sigma's reasoning that everyone is single-minded, trying to escape. After Tenmyouji refuses to answer Sigma's questions, Sigma goes to ask Quark who is behind the partition with the old woman. However, Quark said they were talking too fast, suffering the first affects of Radical-6, but states that he is fine now. Sigma thinks it's due to him being the corpse, and Tenmyouji takes him away. Tenmyouji then goes through the Chromatic Doors with Sigma and Clover and searches the PEC with them. After Dio opens the AB gate, they head back to Floor A and find out that Alice and K had found the Axelavir for Quark. He thanks them for saving his grandson. Later on, Tenmyouji and Sigma discover Quark awake in the infirmary and feeling better. After Tenmyouji hugs him in relief for a few minutes, Quark asks him where everyone else is. Sigma tells him about the White Chromatic Doors but omits Alice's death and his infection in his explanation. They head through the White Doors together and search the Director's Office. While there Sigma sees the picture of Akane Kurashiki and he explains that he has searched for her his whole life. Tenmyouji, Clover, and Quark escaped the facility. Tenmyouji and Quark betrayed Sigma upon learning that Sigma was actually Zero upon to the hologram in the Director's Office they viewed after he forgot the picture in that room. Sigma asked him why he chose to betray, but doesn't answer his question, but promised him they won't open the Number "9" door. Clover opened it, and countered to Sigma that he didn't say he would go into the Number "9" door. The three left the facility, but Quark gave Sigma a letter explaining what kind of person Tenmyouji was. Phi END and Another Time END On this route, Quark goes through the Infirmary, along with Dio and Luna. He and Dio ally with Luna. As a result, all of them have 5 BP. In the second round of the AB Game, Quark is a cyan pair, along with K. K, Quark, and Alice go through the green door and explore the archives. After they leave, both Quark and Alice show symptoms of Radical-6 and get sedated by Luna. As a result, K votes for the group, who picks ally, since Alice defaulted to ally, his BP becomes 7. He then becomes a blue Solo. After Sigma and Phi disable the bombs, he and Dio are carried through one of the white Chromatic Doors by K, and Quark and Alice get healed with Axelavir found in the Q room. Later, he escapes from Rhizome 9 with the other players, except for Dio. After the conclusion of the Nonary Game: Ambidex Edition, an unknown entity in Kyle Klim's body entered the Pressure Exchange Chamber to see Tenmyouji and Quark about to leave Rhizome 9 in order to return to Earth. When he was asked why, Tenmyouji explained that despite the mission they were used for in order to create a better future, they cannot change the current "future" they live in as the future they lived in has already been set. Though Tenmyouji admitted that while it is nice to have an ideal future to work out the way Akane planned, he tells him that there is some worth to an existence that has struggled through hardships and sadness, and denies the possibility of being erased in this timeline. Nonetheless, Tenmyouji had another reason to continue to live on for: Quark. After the end of the game, Quark and Tenmyouji return to Earth. ''Zero Time Dilemma'' Quark's name is briefly mentioned in Zero Time Dilemma as one of the X-Passes needed to open the X-Door. Other than this, he is never mentioned. Due to the game's treatment of multiple history theory, is it possible Quark still exists in the Virtue's Last Reward timeline instead of having his existence erased entirely. Quotes * "You bastard! I'm not gonna let you get away with this!" (to Dio after he betrays Tenmyouji) * "It's all over... This is it. We're all going to die... No... No, that's not it... Don't you get it? We aren't going to die... We have to die... We have to die here... All of us..." (Quark showing symptoms of Radical-6) * "No, I'M fine... YOU'RE the crazy ones. Getting so... serious... about this stupid game... We should just stop... End this... End all of it... End everything..." * "That was when I decided I’d stay with him forever. Even if he said I couldn't." (in his letter about Tenmyouji) * "Oh, I know a baby! Ha ha." * "Thanks! You're the best, Mr. Sigma! You saved my life!" Trivia *According to the secret files in the archives section of Virtue's Last Reward, Quark keeps snacks hidden in his hat, and keeps them secured with the band around it. *Quark's nickname by Zero III, Quirk, means to have awkward tendencies. *Although he accompanies Sigma in two escape rooms, he only participates in one, as he is unconscious for the other. *Quark never casts a vote in the Ambidex Game. When he is part of a pair, his partner votes for them. When he is a solo, he doesn't vote because he is put to sleep with Soporil and automatically defaults to "Ally". *Except for in Clover Game Over, Quark does not lose any BP. *He is the youngest player in Virtue's Last Reward. *Alice is the only female player that Quark does not call "Ms.". *Quark is the only participant in Virtue's Last Reward who is never directly depicted as deceased; this is understandable given how depicting a child dying would be viewed as offensive and distasteful to some. Even in Clover END, Quark is not seen because he is in a pod in the treatment center, although after a while, he would presumably awaken from his sedation and kill himself because of Radical-6 off-screen. *It is possible that the fact that Quark is the character with the least development in Virtue's Last Reward, and that he seems to mostly just exist to develop Tenmyouji's character is a subtle reference to the phenomenon of color confinement, which states that quarks cannot be isolated singularly and directly observed. *In Zero Time Dilemma, Quark is the name for one of the X passes given out if Junpei dies. Gallery QuarkProfile.png|Official profile. VLRcast.png|Quark with the players. ZEVLR.jpg|Quark with the players. VLR wallpaper 1920x1200.jpg|Quark with the players. GoingToBe.png|Quark with the players. Quarkartbook2.jpg|Concept art. Quarkartbook3.jpg|Concept art. Quarkartbook4.jpg|Concept art. QuarkBracelet.png|Quark's bracelet. Quark.jpg|Quark before the AB Game results. PlayersDoorNine.png|Quark by the Number Nine Door. Quark standard.jpg|Quark meets Mr. Sigma. PlayersListen.png|Quark listens to Zero III. VLR-Quark.jpg|Quark feeling suicidal. QuarkCollapse.png|Quark collapses onto the floor. Quark_in_game.jpg|Quark confused. Videos.jpg|Quark and Tenmyouji. QuarkInfirmary.jpg|Quark infected with Radical-6. QuarkInfirmary2.jpg|Quark infected with Radical-6. QuarkRad.jpg|Quark infected with Radical-6. QuarkRad2.jpg|Quark infected with Radical-6. QuarkLeg.jpg|Luna sedating Quark's leg. Grandpa.gif|"Grandpa..." QuarkPod.jpg|Quark in a treatment pod. Tenmyouji_Carrying_Quark.jpg|Tenmyouji carrying Quark. HoldingQuark.jpg|Sigma gives Quark to Phi. Phi Quark.jpg|Quark escaping with Phi in Luna END. Dio 2.png|Quark in the anime. Quark0.png|Quark in the anime. Quark1.png|Quark in the anime. Quark2.png|Quark in the anime. Quarkneutral.png|Quark neutral. Quarksad.png|Quark sad. Quarktalking.png|Quark talking. Category:Characters Category:Virtue's Last Reward characters Category:Male characters Category:American characters Category:Nonary Game: Ambidex Edition players